Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the country’s first fully solar-powered village in Mehsana district in poll-bound Gujarat saying it would “generate employment, bring major environmental change and make the region a tourist
hub.”
Inaugurating India’s first 24x7 solar-powered village, Modhera, Modi said that “with Narendra (Modi) and Bhupendra (Patel), Gujarat has a “double-engine sarkar” and a “promise of speedy development.”
He said the solar project at Modhera will generate employment, attract environmentalists from all over the world and become a tourist hub of the State. “It is a dream come true”, he said.
Modi added that Modhera, known for the historic Sun Temple will now also be known as a fully solar-powered village.” The Sun Temple is located along the Pushpavati River and Bhima-I of the Chalukya dynasty built it around 1026–1027 AD.
Both the Central and State Governments have invested over `80 crore in this solar-development project in two phases, with the State allotting 12 hectares of area for the project. People in the village can save 60 per cent to 100 per cent on their electricity bills with this move.
Modi said, “Today, a new energy of development has been infused into Modhera, Mehsana and the whole of North Gujarat. From electricity, water to road and rail. Many projects related to dairy, skill development and healthcare have been inaugurated and foundation stones have been laid today.”
“Now we will not pay for electricity, but start selling it and earn from it. Till a while back, the Government used to supply electricity to citizens but now, with the installation of solar panels, citizens will produce their own electricity,” Modi declared.
Modhera village is located 25 km from the Mehsana district of Gurajat, and about 100 km from the State capital of Gandhinagar.
The village has a ground-mounted solar power plant, and over 1,300 rooftop solar systems with 1KW capacity have been installed on houses to generate electricity. All of these solar systems are linked to a battery energy storage system.
During the day, solar panels will provide power to the village, while in the evening, BESS, India’s first grid-connected megawatt-hour scale battery energy storage system, will provide power to the houses.
Modi on a three-day visit to the State laid the foundation stone of multiple projects worth over Rs 14,500 crores. The Prime Minister is visiting Gujarat from October 9 to October 11, followed by a visit to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. Modhera village in Gujarat’s Mehsana district is also home to the historic Sun Temple which the Prime Minister mentioned in his speech saying foreign “invaders many a times tried to destroy it.”
The other projects dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister in Mehsana include the Gauge Conversion of the Sabarmati-Jagudan segment of the Ahmedabad-Mehsana Gauge Conversion project; ONGC’s Nandasan Geological oil production project; Sujalam Sufalam Canal from Kherava to Shingoda Lake; Dharoi Dam Based Vadnagar Kheralu and Dharoi Group Reform Scheme; and project of four-laning of a section of Bechraji Modhera.
Besides, he dedicated the new building of the Regional Training Centre, Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration, Mehsana and Projection Mapping at Sun Temple at Modhera, among others.
On October 10, Modi will first inaugurate various projects in Amod in Bharuch, and will then inaugurate the Modi Shaikshanik Sankul in Ahmedabad. Thereafter, he is scheduled to dedicate various projects in Jamnagar.
